| Band | Song | Next area appearance | Why them | |
| 01. | Jukebox The Ghost | Hold It In | Change is in the air, and what better sounds to start off with the best new local group, a jangly bit of piano pop. Check out the video for some nice Peanuts based humor. | |
| 02. | Katy Perry | Hot N Cold | 4/10/09 9:30 | You’ve probably heard it already, but I just could not get it out of my head. If you’re earwormed too, you’re welcome. |
| 03. | Lindsey Buckingham | The Right Place to Fade | 3/10/09 Verizon Center | The Fleetwood Mac pop mastermind veers back to sounding like his band after his last solo album, and that’s a good thing. |
| 04. | Red Molly | May I Suggest | 1/18/08 Birchmere | While the three members are talented players (not just guitar, also banjo, Dobro and mandolin), it’s this acapella number that grabbed me. |
| 05. | Ben Arthur | Tattoo | The first (of three) videos I recorded. | |
| 06. | Crooked Still | Did You Sleep Well? | Artists To Watch vets, back with a new lineup and great songs (and another video of mine). | |
| 07. | Gary Louris | She Only Calls Me On Sundays | 2/10/09 Birchmere | The ex-Jayhawk marries his sound with some gospel. Great album and tour, but next year he re-teams with Mark Olson – watch out for that. |
| 08. | Ellis Paul | Abiola | 1/16/09 Andy’s | From his kids album, a scintillating duet with Antje Duvekot. |
| 09. | Jim Boggia | To And Fro | The power pop master returns with another round of great songs. | |
| 10. | She And Him | Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? | This list doesn’t mesh too often with the best of lists, but the collaboration of actress Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward is something special. | |
| 11. | Jim’s Big Ego | Everything Must Go | 1/22/09 Jammin’ Java | My favorite song about death all year. Jim’s duet partner is Jennifer Kimball. |
| 12. | Vampire Weekend | Oxford Comma | 2/28/08 Richmond Coliseum | Again a popular choice, but their Paul Simon/Peter Gabriel influenced world pop is danged catchy. |
| 13. | Dar Williams | Buzzer | 1/26/09 The National | I’ll bet we’ll never hear a poppier song based on the social psychology experiments. Also the last of my videos. |
| 14. | Steven Wilson | Harmony Korine | From the Porcupine Tree mastermind’s first solo record. I don’t like it as much as the Tree, but it’s still got a great riff. | |
| 15. | Great Big Sea | Company of Fools | Listen to this and you’ll know why we want to go on a cruise with them. | |
| 16. | Thea Gilmore | Rosie | A softer track than usual, but a nice melody. | |
| 17. | Extreme | Run | They reunited two years ago, but this year they wrote a new album, here’s the best groove. | |
| 18. | The Feeling | I Thought It Was Over | These guys are huge in the UK, this is why. | |
| 19. | Lenka | The Show | 5/?/09 Herndon Festival | There were lots of female singer/piano players this year (Sara Bareilles was good too), but only Lenka will be playing minutes away from us next summer. |
| 20. | Queen + Paul Rodgers | Say It’s Not True | This song is a great summary for the supergroup – Brian and Roger start on their own, then Paul swoops in – it’s a kind of magic. | |
| 21. | Robbie Schaefer | Evergreen | 1/16-18/08 Birchmere | The reason I couldn’t finish until the last minute, the CD was not released until a day before our party. A lovely coda for the disc and the year. |
Leftovers (in no particular order):
Absentstar – Half Life
Amanda Palmer – The Point of It All
Amie Miriello – I Came Around
Ben’s Brother – Stuttering
Catie Curtis – Soul Meets Body
Gemma Hayes – Out Of Our Hands (featuring Kevin Shields)
Kate Voegele – Only Fooling Myself
Matt Nathanson – Gone
Natalia Zukerman – Better Me
Ruut – Sweetest Thing
Slow Runner – Trying To Put Your Heart Back Together
Snow Patrol – Crack The Shutters
The Takeover UK – Lean On It
These United States – The Business
No Christmas mix CD this year – barely got one disc done in time. Maybe I’ll plan better next year.